Returned several weeks ago from an amazing trip to Misool Eco Resort armed with my tiny Sony RX100 and Nauticam housing. I love this combination and my only regret was spending money on a macro dioper and strobe and not a wide angle diopter and the latest Light and Motion video lamps. That not withstanding I captured some pretty reasonable footage (IMHO)

Take a look at this sample of mantas captured on Misool's famous 'Magic Mountain'

Original format AVCHD 1920x1080p 50fps, subsequently converted to Apple ProRes and edited in FCP. No post production colour editing.

Very nice. That is a great dive. Last time I was there, a bunch of juvenile white tips were zooming all over the place and a walking shark was sleeping under a coral. And the Mantas were buzzing us at the end of the ridge.

The RX100 is an incredible camera. I wonder how the Sony product management people let it get through without dumbing it down a bit. I still prefer the Canon XF100 for video but the RX100 is almost there.

I was using max resolution, max frames, progressive AVCHD (1920x1080p 50fps), aperture priority, (sometimes shutter), tracking focus and a white balance based off a white card.

I agree with earlier postings about this great camera that white balance under water is not trivial. I was convinced (before I used the camera on dives) that manually setting the desired colour temperature would be the way to go, but this did not give very good results in the field. I used a white card and then further adjusted towards red or blue etc with the little square colour chart you can open up. Thankfully you can see the results visually as you adjust. I did get an 'error' message on some white card readings, but kept the resulting WB which seemed to be fine.

Frankly I'm blown away by the video quality that this matchbox sized (well cigarette pack sized) camera produces. At full 1920x1080p on a big LCD screen these images are stunning. I'm doing a little more editing right now and will post in due course. I'm new to Vimeo, but glad to see that they have an HD option for viewing.

Very nice. That is a great dive. Last time I was there, a bunch of juvenile white tips were zooming all over the place and a walking shark was sleeping under a coral. And the Mantas were buzzing us at the end of the ridge.

The RX100 is an incredible camera. I wonder how the Sony product management people let it get through without dumbing it down a bit. I still prefer the Canon XF100 for video but the RX100 is almost there.

Regards
Peter

Yes the Sony RX100 is a little marvel even MTV even uses this camera to shoot run and gun footage see this what this guy is doing topside:

I has the opportunity to use the RX100 on raja Ampat last November and I have to say except the painful white balance process the camera does extremely well in wide angle with an external lens
The limits show more in macro where in effect you need to use always manual focus when you have really tiny subject as the autofocus is pathetic in video
Having said that if you do get through those two hurdles the rx100 is very rewarding for video but especially for stills
I wonder of the new MKII version will have a one button white balance ability and an easier focus lock that would be nice